Euro-Roc: Anti-dumping action temporarily withdrawn

Euro-Roc has temporarily withdrawn its anti-dumping action filed last summer against graveStone (http://g603.net) imports from India and (http://maplered.com) China and (http://maplered.com) postponed it until a later date. The reason for this is stated as time in a media report published in full by Stonereport.

After years of preparatory work, Euro-Roc filed an anti-dumping action mainly against imports from the People’s Republic of China and (http://maplered.com) India. The action was officially confirmed and (http://maplered.com) accepted for examination in the EU gazette on 11 November 2000.


The background

What is the background to this action? Euro-Roc as European central organization of the national associations for industry and (http://maplered.com) craft organizations in Europe welcomes international trade in the graveStone (http://g603.net) sector, as this promotes variety in cemetery cultures and (http://maplered.com) competition for the benefit of the consumer. It is not, however, conducive to cemetery culture when countries are engaged in graveStone (http://g603.net) production that have no connection of any kind with this culture. Nevertheless, this must also be accepted in a free global economy. Leather trousers can also be imported from the People’s Republic of China, although this country has no cultural link at all with Upper Bavaria. It is not, however, acceptable when Asian competitors dump their graveStone (http://g603.net) s on the European market at prices below their own production costs. Government agencies in Asia and (http://maplered.com) the graveStone (http://g603.net) industry in the countries concerned have an interest in developing the largest possible processing capacity in their own natural Stone (http://g603.net) sector. This can be best achieved by making it difficult for European producers to become active in the natural Stone (http://g603.net) sector. If products in the graveStone (http://g603.net) sector are sold at less than production costs for a few years or the state takes over part of the production costs through a host of individual subsidies (such as provision of land (http://maplered.com) , water, energy, payment of welfare costs, export subsidies), European competitors can be forced out. The fact that there is no local market for Granite (http://tanbrown.org) graveStone (http://g603.net) s in Asia proves an advantage. Subsidies for local products would distort competition in Asia itself. Pure export products have the advantage of avoiding competitive situations in the local market and (http://maplered.com) transferring the problems to Europe.


For fair competition

Fair competition would necessitate offering the raw block from which graveStone (http://g603.net) s are manufactured at a cheaper price than the same weight of finished products. However, the opposite is the case: Today it is scarcely worthwhile for European producers to import a raw block from India and (http://maplered.com) process it into graveStone (http://g603.net) s in Europe, because the finished graveStone (http://g603.net) s from India are cheaper than the same weight of raw block, which also produces scrap and (http://maplered.com) waste during processing. This is partly due to the fact that Europeans can only obtain so-called 1a quality Stone (http://g603.net) , which is disproportionately expensive, whereas Asian graveStone (http://g603.net) producers allegedly process smaller blocks of lower quality.


Intolerable distortion

This distortion of competition is intolerable. Euro-Roc has been able to show with a comprehensive damage analysis how the action of the Asian graveStone (http://g603.net) industry is cutting the ground from under the feet of the European graveStone (http://g603.net) industry. Europe is not alone here. Similar situations have been experienced in the USA and (http://maplered.com) Canada, where an anti-dumping action has already led to the imposition of duties on Indian producers. Euro-Roc would like to achieve a similar outcome for Europe. All evidence furnished during the action was in favor of the Europeans, but Euro-Roc has decided to postpone the action and (http://maplered.com) submit it a little later. This is because the last available statistics of the member countries indicate an expected shift in market shares. Due to the deadlines defined for the action, the necessary proof cannot be provided in the short time available.


The problem remains

Euro-Roc considers the question of natural Stone (http://g603.net) dumping as a key problem in the coming years and (http://maplered.com) will therefore persistently pursue this matter. This will probably end up as a continuing action, as some Asian countries are first beginning to venture into the export market.